CASEBEER-CLYDE

DISTINGUISHED  NAVAL  AVIATION  PILOT

Clyde B. Casebeer was reportedly born on October 23, 1921 in Iowa.  He joined the Marine Corps during World War II where he reportedly served in one of the Marine Raiders units which conducted special amphibious light infantry warfare, landing behind enemy lines.  Following the war, Casebeer entered the Naval Aviation Pilot training program and became an enlisted Marine Corps Aviator.  In 1951 it is known that he was then assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron 212 (VMF-212) aboard the light carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29), the pilot of a Corsair F4U fighter.  He was one of six enlisted pilots known to be assigned to the squadron.  They flew missions into the North Korean hinterlands and were credited with adding materially to the welfare of the Marine ground forces by furnishing close air cover.  Casebeer was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions during the Korean War and reportedly once helped established some sort of a record when during a flight with another plane, the pair destroyed a locomotive, eleven rail cars, three trucks, five supply warehouses and a body of troops.  In addition, they sealed a railway tunnel to cut off a supply route by firing rockets into it.  SGTMAJ Clyde B. Casebeer died on December 13, 1978, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia where his grave marker carries the inscription:  SGTMAJ – US MARINE CORPS – WORLD WAR II – KOREA.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)